Sunday, September 21, 2014

How to Win a Fiddle Contest




Mr. Kessinger was 71 when this was recorded. I turned 71 back in January of this year. I saw Mr. Kessinger a few times at the Union Grover Fiddlers Convention, in the late 1960s. He won every time he entered, hands down. I bought his LP but I couldn't figure out a lick of what he was doing. Well actually, thinking on those early days in more detail, I do believe there's one phrase in "Ragtime Annie" that I got from this master of masters. There's a man named Bobby Taylor, from Charleston, WV, who did figure out Mr. Clark pretty well. He's probably 60 or so, and has a CD out. And I think maybe Mr. Taylor has a family connection to the wizard of St. Albans, so he probably was soaking in the brew before he could read. That would have to help.

No comments:

Post a Comment